Reconciliation Cometh?

Mary Katharine Ham

“They’re meeting with each other this weekend to pursue it,” says Ryan. “I’ve spoken with many Democrats and the message is this: They’re not ready to give up. They’ve waited their entire adult lives for this moment and they aren’t ready to let 100,000 pesky votes in Massachusetts get in the way of fulfilling their destiny. They’ll look at every option and spend the next four or five days figuring it out.”

“Right now, I’d take a very hard look at reconciliation in the Senate and how comprehensive of a bill you could get through the reconciliation process,” Borosage told me. “If you could get a significant portion of this bill through in a way that doesn’t leave staggering holes, then I would try to do that through reconciliation.”

He said that insurance regulatory reforms that could not be passed through reconciliation – such as forcing insurers to offer coverage to those with preexisting conditions – could be included in a separate bill.

“That’s a popular measure, you could do that separately, and if Republicans try to stop that, that would be a nice fight,” he said.